Theater Review by Walter Murphy . . .
Although based on true stories, I wondered whether audiences would be able to identify the principals of Orson’s Shadow, like Orson Wells, Lawrence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Joan Plowright, and Kenneth Tynan. Fortunately, there is more than enough detail in the dialogue to inform someone not familiar with their backstories or biographies. At its core, it is a play powered by actors’ superb performances.
The play (a remount of the show that ran in March 2024 at Theater for the New City) directed by Austin Pendleton (who also wrote it) and David Schweizer, can also be seen as a cautionary tale about the trials and tribulations of maintaining artistic vision, control and excellence in filmmaking.
Set in 1960, years after Wells’s successes with War of the Worlds and Citizen Kane, he questions his artistic relevance and bemoans the lack of demand for his talents. Olivier, a respected Shakespearean actor enjoying mainstream popularity due to his role in the play The Entertainer, looks for ways to sustain his career and his impossibly high standards. To both men, making films seems much more difficult than staging plays. Also, there is the issue of artistic integrity. Studios that were producing films like Citizen Kane and Richard III, were now producing blockbusters like Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (yes, a real film).
At the start, Orson Wells is in Dublin at the Gaiety Theater directing the play, Chimes at Midnight. Due to an inadvertent slight to the Irish by Wells’s wife, the play is largely unattended. Desperate to find funding for a film of the play, he is visited by his friend and booster, the English theater critic, Kenneth Tynan.
Tynan concocts a plan to convince Lawerence Olivier to allow Wells to direct the Ionesco play Rhinoceros and have Olivier become the director of the National Theatre. Meanwhile, Olivier is in London with actress Joan Plowright, preparing to launch Rhinoceros. Olivier and Plowright are close, very close, even though Olivier is married to Vivien Leigh, the film star of Gone With the Wind. As planned, Olivier, who has become director of the National Theatre, agrees to have Wells direct Rhinoceros.
In the final act, rehearsal of Rhinoceros at the Royal Court Theatre in London begins and almost ends as titanic, theatrical egos clash. The personal and professional lives of all are revealed. It is not smooth sailing. In the end, the show and the principals, like all shows, must go on. An epilogue brings the play to a sad end.
Orson’s Shadow is a play about what goes into maintaining one’s artistic vision. Setbacks can be personal, financial, studio nonsense, or a matter of public taste. With the exception of Plowright, all the main characters—Wells, Olivier, and Leigh—have careers and talents at a crossroads. Additionally, all three experienced early success: Wells was tagged as the boy genius; Leigh, ever to be remembered as Scarlett O’Hara; and, Olivier made his reputation as a great Shakespearean actor in his youth.
The tension within the play is how each looks to another person for relief. Wells thinks working with Olivier will help raise funds. Olivier hopes to enhance his reputation by working with Wells. Leigh wants Olivier to continue to love and care for her. It is a ménage à trois of needy people.
Even if one is not aware of the principals or backstage drama, the performances are extraordinary. Brad Fryman as Orson Welles projected the confidence of genius shaded with the despair of frustration in his career trajectory. Ryan Tramont as Laurence Olivier laid bare his personal conflicts and process, making a Sisyphusian task out of his contemplation about how to deliver a single line. Cady McClain as Joan Plowright perfectly captures a swingin’ 60s London vibe while dispensing common sense. Patrick Hamilton, as Kenneth Tynan, is a patient narrator and friend to Wells, whose best intentions are rarely recognized. Natalie Menna as Vivien Leigh, patiently waits for her moment and then dramatically ends the play. Luke Hofmaier excels as Sean, the stage manager and comic foil to the proceedings. Bravo!
Orson’s Shadow. Through December 1 at Theater for the New City (155 First Avenue, between East 9th and 10th Streets). www.theaterforthenewcity.net
Photos: Russ Rowland
